Wafer feed and insertion



Sept. 26, 1961 B. VOSSEN 3,001,198

WAFER FEED AND INSERTION Filed April 10, 1956 19 Sheets-Sheet 1 l9 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 10, 1956 Sept. 26, 1961 B. VOSSEN 3,001,198

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LOCK n1 SWTCH O V on? U nNm wNn 3,001,198 j WAFER FEED AND INSERTION Bernd Vossen, Arlington, Va., assignor to Melpar, Inc,

Alexandria, Va., a corporation of New York Filed Apr. 10, 1956, Ser. No. 577,328 6 Claims. (Cl. 1-323) This application is related in subject matter, cations for United States patent, asfollows:

Lawson etaL, Serial No. 413,092, filed March 1, 1954 for Stapling Machines and issued'as Patent No. 2,904,- 785..

. Lawson et-al., Serial No. 413,072, filed March 1, 1954 for Modular Circuitry now abandoned. t Vossen et al., Serial No. 493,392, filed March 10, 1955 for Stapling Machines and issued as Patent No. 2,904,786. Vossen et al., Serial No. 473,251, filedDecember 6, 1954 for Automatic Machinery and issued as Patent No. 2,868,413. r t I l Hazel, Serial No. 513,782, filed June 7, 1955 for Stapling Machines and issued as Patent No. 2,778,691.

This application is also related to cations for. United States patent,filedconcurrently herewith, as follows:

.Hazel, Serial No. 577,329, Component Feed and Insertion, issued as Patent No. 2,947,447; and Hazel et 211., Serial .No. 577,330, Automation, issued as Patent No. 2,911,646.. I t I i The present invention relates generally to automatic machines for fabricating electronic sub-assemblies, and

to applimore particularly to automatic orls'emi-automatic mat-1 chines for assembling electrical components, such as resistors, selected automaticallywfrom a large numberof available types, at pro-selected positions on a; wafer, and soldering the components to printed circuitry previously placed on the wafer.

The problem of automatic assembly or fabrication of electrical or electronic sub-assemblies1is receiving considerable attention, and various approaches have been attempted. In accordance with the present invention, a water, in the form of .a thin sheet of insulating material,

is provided with a plurality of aperture pairs, for inser- I tion of the terminal leads of standard electrical components therein. .Theaperture pairs are located atprede termined locations for all wafers employed in the system, and a predetermined number of component positions are thus rendered available. A water positioning mechanism, in the form of a pneumatic servo system, is available for selectively positioning the wafers, so that any desired pair of apertures may be positioned under a stapling head,

for insertion of a component. The fact that a limited num ber of aperture pair positions is employed enables simplificat'ion of the servo system without limitation on the operation of the machineina practical sense, since the locations of the aperturepai'rs may be selected in view of the dimensional r quirements of thecomponent employed.

Each wafer providedfwithpro-tinned printed circuitry on one of its sides, cured to the other side, the ponents passing throughthe stapled relation to the Wafer wire terminals of r the cornand into intimate contact with the printed circuitry. During the stapling process the wire terminals. are heated sufliciently to form a soldered joint with the printed circuitry. By pre-tinning the:

printed circuitry, just the correct thickness of solder may be made available, .andno problems of solder application arise in the operation ofthe machine.

In order to provide pro-selected components to the assembly or stapling position, components or identical type are stacked in separate gravity feed hoppers, adjacent a pneumatic conveyor. .The separate components may be the following appliand the components are seapertures, being bent into nited States Patent 7' ating hopper wafer turn, controlled by the two-coordinate servo system, above I length. Moreover, the

. selected pair of wafer ice delivered to the conveyor by electro-magnetically actugates, each of which is associated with one hopper, and designed to drop one component when briefly electrically energized. The problem of providing selected components to the conveyor in order becomes, then, one of selectively energizing the hopper gates.

The conveyor itself comprises an elongated channel, generally of V cross-section, and having air nozzles distributed along the base of the V. The air nozzles are all directed so as to impel components which fall into the channel toward an egress point at which are located a holder and positioning device, and a stapling head.

Each component, as it is dropped into the channel, is rapidly blown to the stapling position, where it is stapled to a wafer, previously positioned; After a stapling operation is completed, a new component is dropped and the wafer repositioned to accept same. The described constrnction permits use of a large variety or components, because the component hoppers may be of relatively slight width, and the conveyor may be of any desired width, and thehoppers may be distributed both conveyor, if desired.

The moving components of the machine are operated by pneumatic servos, electrically controlled. In particular the wafers are positioned in two coordinate directions by a pair of servos acting at right angles relative to one another. This enables complete positioning, in two coordinate directions, on a quantized basis, so that any pre:

apertures maybe placed in C0111- ponent insertion position, by selecting one servo control clectro-magnet for each position, in one coordinate direction, and by appropriately controlling a further servomotor to establish tion.

Once a selected component has been made available to the stapling position, and a water has been appropriately positioned, a stapling and soldering matically. The stapling head removes a component from stapling position, bends the wire leads of the component at right angles to the component, down to the wafer, and inserts the bent leads through the apertures in the wafer. The anvil of the stapling and soldering head moves up under the wafer, forms the staple by further bending the wire and in parallelism with the under relatively thin, so that hoppers on the printed circuitry sufficiently to etiect soldering.

er transition mechanism abstracts the wafers, one by one, from the chain conveyor, and places themin the wafer positioning carriage, in timed sequence. The latter is, in

described.

The selections of components and of wafer positions, in the system above described, may be controlledeither in response to selectively actuatable push-button switches,

or by means ofpunchedcards, or equivalents thereof,' information to each card containing sufiicient control complete assembling of one set of components on one wafer. The cards contain, accordingly, co-ordinated information concerning wafer position. A

tains controlinformation for a single complete sub-assembly, and cards may bepunched for any combination of component types and wafer locations which. are With:

in the capability of the machine, aswell as for the order ofassembly of the components on the Wafer.

While wafer positions and components may be selected,

conveyor may be of considerable lengthwise and widthwise of the I position in a second coordinate direc head is actuated pneucarries the component ends into proximity to 1 side of the wafer, and. simultaneously heats .the wire ends and the pre-tinning given card con- 1 

